NCMS Board of Directors Convenes for Final Meeting of 2016

The North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS) Board of Directors held its last meeting of the year in Raleigh last Saturday. During the half-day gathering the Board:

Approved the Society’s 2017 budget, which will be posted shortly on the NCMS website for members’ information.

Approved the NCMS committee charges and board member assignments.

Approved the nominations of NCMS Immediate Past President Docia Hickey, MD, and Asheville cardiologist, Leadership College scholar and NCMS PAC board member Rachel Keever, MD, FACC to 3-year terms on the NCMS Foundation Board of Trustees. The Board also approved the nominations of David Sousa, JD and Katie Lowry, MD for second 3-year terms as Foundation Trustees.

Listened to a brief presentation by an NCMS member on issues of concern to him regarding the NC Health Information Exchange. The Board referred the matter to the Legislative Cabinet for recommendation. Under our new governance system members are welcome at our Board meetings and are encouraged to bring important policy matters directly to the Board of Directors. Access the online form for submitting your policy issue or concern here. The 2017 Board meetings are scheduled as follows:

Jan. 7: Raleigh

March 17-18: Greenville

May 19-20: Chapel Hill

July 21-22: Boone

Sept. 14-16: Raleigh (M3 Conference and Annual Business Meeting)

Nov. 4: Raleigh

Watch the Bulletin for details on member receptions that will precede most meetings and offer a time for you to informally mix and mingle with Board of Directors members.

Heard from the new North Carolina Medical Board president Eleanor E. Greene, MD. Dr. Greene spoke about the Medical Board’s preliminary decision at its September meeting to adopt the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) guidelines for prescribing opioids for chronic pain in place of the NCMB’s current opioid prescribing position statement.

The CDC’s guidance, which was published in March 2016, reflects more current thinking than NCMB’s Policy for the use of opiates for the treatment of pain, which was adopted in June 2014, Dr. Greene told Board members. The Medical Board is expected to finalize its decision at its November Board meeting this week. View the NCMB’s position statement and the CDC’s guidelines here.

Dr. Greene also spoke about the Medical Board’s work as part of the North Carolina Consortium for Physician Resilience and Retention (NCCPRR) of which the NCMS is a founding member. Watch your email this week for an announcement in the NCMB’s Forum newsletter and from the NCMS on the results of an important initiative undertaken by the Consortium.